A conglomerate of six Chakma organisations in Tripura have demanded a probe into the entry of about 10,000 Tripuri people from Bangladesh while Rohingya refugees have been arrested.
In a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday, organisations such as the Chakma Buddhist Welfare Society and the Chakma Development Foundation of India said repeated attacks by Bengali Muslim settlers in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh made at least 10,000 Tripuris take refuge in the adjoining Dhalai and South Tripura districts of Tripura.
There are about 3,00,000 Tripuris in the CHT. The Tripuris are also among the 19 recognised tribes of Tripura.
“At least 860 families or about 8,600 persons from 28 Tripuri villages… under Khagrachari district of Bangladesh have fled to Tripura and settled in various places such as East Sabroom, Silachari, Suknachari, Kaptala Para, Gorakappa, Ailmara and Karbook, Pancharatan and all the way up to Raisyabari since 2000,” the memorandum said.
“Every day, the Bangladeshi Tripuris are fleeing as their lands are being grabbed by the Muslim settlers,” Arunjoy Chakma, a representative of the Chakma organisations, said.
Some documents revealed Tripuris or other non-Muslim communities who converted to Islam have been spared the attacks or land-grabbing by Islamist radicals in Bangladesh, the organisations said.
The Chakma organisations also alluded to Tripura police records pointing to at least 108 Rohingya refugees having been arrested in the State between 2018 and March this year. “The government should conduct a State-wide inquiry in Tripura against the influx of foreigners, irrespective of their ethnic origin or religion,” they said.
